This invention relates principally to a new style of fully integrated pump for use in combination with a drum, or barrel, and which secures to its opening or bung, either permanently installed, or temporarily secured therein, but ready for immediate usage integrating all of its various components to render it fully operative.
A large variety of pumps have been available on the market, for use in combination for a variety of purposes, even for discharging the fluids from drums or barrels. Generally, large drums of the type referred to this application may come in multiple capacities weather it be a 15 gallon, 20 gallon, 30 gallon, or the standard 55 gallon type of drum, whether it be fabricated or steel, fiber, or plastic.
It is likely that various types of mechanical or steel pumps may have been inserted into drums, of the foregoing type, for pumping purposes and for discharging the drums content, but these type of pumps, if adapted for their usage, normally need to be cleaned after usage, are not of a permanent type of installation, and may have not been designed for usage specifically with a drum, and therefore, such pumps may not be most efficient in discharging the liquid contents from a drum.
On the other hand, it is known that the market potential for a pump of the type as designed and explained herein, may be voluminous, since it is known that approximately one hundred million barrels for various uses are sold annually in the United States. In addition, the market is significant and the need is just as great elsewhere throughout the Americas and in the overseas market. Thus, the need for a low cost portable pump that may be installed into the drum, perhaps even initially after the drum is filled and shipped with it, and in certain instances, even remain permanently installed therein, so that when the drum is shipped, stored, marketed, prepared for usage, an efficient pump is readily provided, allowing the purchaser immediately to discharge its contents from the drum, upon receipt. Such pump, of this design may be disposable, portable, or even of a permanent design.
There are a variety of uses that are made of drums of this type, and if they incorporate a pump therein, of the type as explained in this application, the usage and application of such a pump has ready market in the fields of sanitation chemicals, food extracts for food processors, the pharmaceutical industries, the petrochemicals business, and fluids used in the automotive fields, just to name a few of the more prominent type of industries in which usage of this invention may be made.
This invention contemplates the formation of a low cost polymer molded fully integrated drum pump, of the type that may be applied either permanently or temporarily to a drum, ready for usage and application for pumping out its liquid contents,
More specifically, the drum pump of this invention is a fully integrated structure, having all of its various components for usage and for functioning as such a pump, in combination with a drum, integrated into its structure, and once applied to the drum, is readily available for usage for pumping and conveying liquid contents to a remote source for usage. The pump includes a formed pump cylinder having a chamber therein, within the chamber locates the plunger, the plunger having a piston located at its downward end, and which is capable of shifting vertically the full extent of the piston cylinder, so as to maximize the amount of liquid that can be pumped through each stroke or cycle of the piston, during its operation. The plunger, at its lower end, includes a piston, that provides the functionality for both pumping liquids from the drum, but at the same time, recharging the piston cylinder, in preparation for the next plunger discharge of liquid from the drum.
The pump cylinder includes a cap ring, which is molded as a substantially sturdy structure, and which can be readily engaged within the drum, to its bung opening, and which cap ring can be either temporarily installed, allowing for its ready removal, if necessary, or it can be permanently locked into position, when engaged within the drum, so as to prevent its unauthorized tampering and removal, and provides for its ready availability for usage, so long as the drum contains liquid content. In addition, the cap ring is structured such that it is effective in forming a fluidic seal between said cap ring, and the pump for that matter, with the drum, so as to prevent the leakage of any fluids at that location, even when the drum may be turned on its side, or upside down, during application or maneuvering
Furthermore, the cap ring is formed such that it accommodates the storage of the pump hose therein, for its temporary retention interiorly of the plunger upper cap, until it is pushed out of the pump cylinder in preparation for usage of the pump for the conveying of the drum liquids.
In addition, the pump piston or plunger is fabricated such that it has a thin line profile, so that it may approach contiguity, or closeness, with the pump cylinder lower cap, in order to maximize the stroke of the plunger, while shifting its piston vertically within the pump cylinder, for obtaining a recharging of the said cylinder with liquid during usage of the drum applied pump.
Furthermore, during shipping and storage and before the pump is charged and set up for usage, notwithstanding its having been previously threadedly or otherwise engaged within the drum bung opening, the pump cylinder chamber will have ample capacity for holding and storing the pump hose within the chamber above the piston pump, and this is achieved by maintaining a close proximity between the pump upper cap, and the plunger piston, as both of these components are stationarily located, during assembly, before usage, at the lower region of the pump cylinder, and just above its lower cap such as during pump storage. Then, when the pump is readied for usage, and its plunger is elevated upwardly within the pump chamber, it draws the plunger upper cap upwardly, within the cylinder and into proximity just below the plunger cap ring, where it forms a fluid seal, and becomes permanently installed, and ready for usage. As this occurs, the pump hose likewise elevates out of the pump, from its coiled position during storage surrounding the pump rod and within the cylinder, thereby supplying a length of hose externally of the pump, and the drum, so that the discharging fluids, as they are being pumped from the drum, may be directed to any distant source, as desired.
These are the various features of this invention that are integrated into a rather portable and disposable, low cost, polymer molded pump, that may be readily used in application with any size drum, for pumping and discharge of its liquid contents.
The advantages from this type of invention, for a fully integrated style of pump formed of the various components as summarized above, can be reviewed as follows:
Initially, a pump of this structure is of a portable nature, fully integrated, and does not require assembly, or re-assembly, at the site of its usage, since it may be applied to the drum either initially, or at the place of usage, and immediately function to pump the liquid contents from its installed drum.
In addition, a pump of this design is highly efficient. As previously summarized, the pump upper cap has a full and efficient stroke within the pump chamber that brings it into very close contact with the lower cap of the pump, during its charging, and can be maneuvered into very close contact with a pump cap ring, or the pump upper cap at the upper end of the structure, thereby providing a maximum stroke for pumping a full capacity of liquid, from the drum, after it has been set up to pump, during its usage.
Furthermore, a pump of this design, as previously summarized, its fully effective for pumping liquids of various kinds, viscosities, and can be even be used with corrosive type of fluids, since the pump can be molded of various polymers that may be formulated to resist the corrosiveness of any liquid for which it is designed for usage. In addition, the structure of this pump is such that it is fully integrated, as previously explained, since its various parts have been carefully designed for immediate and permanent securement together, either by threaded engagement, snap fastening, which greatly facilitates the assembly of the pump at the site of its molding and manufactured, when produced. In addition, the type of valves within this pump, comprising at least two in number, which is of the flapper type, provides a very thin line dimension, so that the various valves can be brought into close proximity with each other, when used and installed within their various components, to again maximize, the amount of fluids that may be displaced, and pumped through this drum pump, during its application.
It is, therefore, the principle object of this invention to provide for a polymer molded pump which may have a variety of uses, easy to assemble, and interconnect its various components together, due to its specialized design, for application to a drum, to discharge its liquid contents.
Another object of this invention is to provide a universal and integrated type of pump that may be used for conveying a variety of chemicals, regardless whether they may be used in the sanitation field, the food manufacturing industry, applied by food processors, used to pump bulk pharmaceutical chemicals, applied in the petrochemical industry, and even used in the automotive industry, as may be desired. For example, its pump could be used in combination with a drum, that may hold an ample quantity of anti-freeze, either for use at an automotive maintenance facility, the service station, or even domestically in a garage. The user can simply manipulate the pump of this invention, and convey anti-freeze directly through the integrated hose of this pump, into the automotive radiator, to fill or supplement the charge of anti-freeze within the automobile as required. This is just an example.
Another object of this invention is to provide a drum pump which has a highly efficient stroke for conveying fluids and discharging the same from its storage container during usage.
Another object of this invention is to utilize valves within the pump of this design, which are the thin lined construction, to thereby maximize the amount of fluids that may be processed, conveyed, and discharged from a drum through usage of this pump.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for a fully integrated molded pump where all of its components, even including the coil hose, can be stored within the pump in preparation for usage, and readily set up when it is desired to employ the pump for discharging the drum liquid contents.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for the fabrication of the pump, which includes a uniquely styled cap ring, and which can be engaged, either by threaded engagement, by a bayonet lock, or any other means of fastening, within the drum for usage, and can even be permanently installed therein, to prevent its unauthorized removal, as may be desired.
These and other objects may become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the summary of the invention as provided therein, and upon undertaking a study of the description of its preferred embodiment, in view of the drawings.